Helium is fun for voice changing at parties, but it has numerous more uses that are exceedingly important. Solar telescopes and MRI scanners are two of many places where the use of helium in gas or liquid form is essential. Sadly, the average person only knows that their kids want helium-filled balloons on their birthday. According to The Independent, helium supplies are on the wane, which will likely cause a price spike. Helium pricing will fly high as the supply floats out of Earthly existence.
The disappearance of helium should get much more attention
The Helium Privatization Act of 1996 was a boneheaded move by the United States of America Congress that opened the floodgates to waste this natural resource. Because it is so cheap to get helium, supplies have depleted at an alarming rate. The United States National Helium Reserve near Amarillo, Texas, can be required to sell off any remaining helium by 2015, even if they have to do it for pennies on the dollar. Helium reserves worldwide are facing comparable shortages due to short-sighted management of the resource.
How could this have occurred?
MRI machines used in hospitals require liquid helium in order to cool the mechanism and prevent damage. Terrorists are tracked via radiation-powered devices that require helium for operation. Birthday balloon people should know that nuclear reactors require helium-3 isotopes in order to operate safely. Then there are wind tunnels that use helium. Surely you need your outdoor products like automobiles and umbrellas properly tested for safety. NASA even uses helium for safely removing rocket fuel. The risk of explosion is lessened considerably. But it may all be for naught, as The Independent indicates that helium could possibly be gone inside of 30 years.
Professor Robert Richardson of Cornell University told The Independent that “Once helium is released to the atmosphere in the form of party balloons or boiling helium, it is lost to the Earth forever.” He’s a Nobel laureate, so maybe those who think helium isn’t really important should listen.
From where does helium originate?
The Sun produces helium via the process of nuclear fusion. Helium also comes from the very slow process of radioactive decay observed in terrestrial rock. Earth’s supply comes from the latter method, of course. It could be created by no other means, as outlined by scientists. Considering that it has taken the Earth approximately 4.7 billion years to produce the world’s helium reserves, waiting for it to come back could be a marathon at best.
Imagining a $ 100 balloon
Prof. Richardson sees the gravity of the helium situation, and suggests that prices be raised to slow the depletion. Making the gas 20 to 50 times more costly would definitely attract notice. Thus, in Richardson’s estimation, a helium-filled party balloon should currently cost about $100.
Find more details on this subject
Helium Privatization Act
helium.com/items/874929-understanding-the-helium-privitization-act-of-1996
The Independent
independent.co.uk/news/science/why-the-world-is-running-out-of-helium-2059357.html
University of Denver study on helium
mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/helium.htm
